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Bitcoin Crashes to January Lows, Altcoins Suffer Bigger Losses

In a surprising move, bitcoin (BTC) price crashed this weekend, dropping to the levels last seen in January, while all major altcoins are in red against BTC on Sunday.

https://cryptonews.com/news/bitcoin-crashes-to-january-lows-altcoins-suffer-bigger-losse-5975.htm

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‘Crypto-Friendly Bank’ Blocked Your Money? Good Luck Recovering It

Sooner or later, you may be blocked out of your bank account. It can happen to any of us, and it can even happen with supposedly crypto-friendly “banks,” such as Bitwala, Revolut, and more.

The question is: what should you do if such a company freezes or blocks your account? Well, according to lawyers, there isn't any legal 'magic bullet' you can use that will successfully get your account reopened.

https://cryptonews.com/exclusives/crypto-friendly-bank-blocked-your-money-good-luck-recoverin-5974.htm

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Silver Lining for Bitcoin Amid Global Market Panic, Altcoins Purge Estimated

As global stock markets saw massive sell-offs overnight, cryptoassets also fell sharply, with both bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) recording double-digit losses over this past weekend. However, some industry observers claim that crypto’s mainstream moment as a utility may finally be here, but early-stage projects with limited adoption might become ghostowns.

As of press time on Monday (08:45 UTC), bitcoin slightly recovered and is down by 8.6% to a price of USD 7,998, while ETH is down by 9.5% to USD 208. Many smaller altcoins from the top 10 are seeing even bigger losses of between 9% and 14%.

https://cryptonews.com/news/silver-lining-for-bitcoin-amid-global-market-panic-altcoins-5976.htm

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Bitcoin Hashrate, Mining Difficulty Hit New Highs and Inefficient Miners

As Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty and hashrate hit new highs, less efficient miners, hurt by the virus outbreak, new-generation rigs, and falling BTC prices, may be out of business.

Bitcoin mining difficulty, a measure that shows how hard it is to compete for mining rewards, has hit yet another record. According to the major Bitcoin mining pool BTC.com, it climbed to 16.55 T today, never being outside the 15 T range before.

https://cryptonews.com/news/bitcoin-hashrate-mining-difficulty-hit-new-highs-and-ineffic-5981.htm

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South Korean Gaming Giant Unveils Two Mobile Blockchain Games

WeMade Tree, the blockchain arm of South Korean gaming giant WeMade, has announced that it will release two new major blockchain-powered mobile gaming titles.

Per Sports Kyunghan, the two titles will be named Bird Tornado for WEMIX and Aqua for WEMIX.

WEMIX is Wemade Tree’s new blockchain-powered gaming platform. The company says that the platform has been designed to eliminate the inconvenience often associated with other blockchain-powered gaming titles – instead of allowing logins via Google authentication.

https://cryptonews.com/news/south-korean-gaming-giant-unveils-two-mobile-blockchain-game-5977.htm

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Ponzi Scheme PlusToken Might Be Behind Bitcoin's Crash, Traders Say

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped this weekend to the levels last seen in January, and another reason behind it my be multi-million dollar sell-off by an alleged USD 2.9 billion Ponzi scheme.

As reported, in a surprising twist (if anything can surprise the Cryptoverse anymore), BTC price crashed this weekend, pulling many altcoins with it. It has dropped more than 13% since Saturday, 9% in the past 24 hours, and 10% in a week. It's currently (UTC 13:14) trading at USD 7,906. The question is logical: what happened?

https://cryptonews.com/news/ponzi-scheme-plustoken-might-be-behind-bitcoin-s-crash-trade-5983.htm

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Bitcoin and Altcoins At Risk of More Losses

Recently, we saw a significant drop in bitcoin price from well above the USD 8,550 support. BTC/USD declined more than 10% and it even settled below the USD 8,000 level. The price is currently (09:00 UTC) consolidating losses and it remains at a risk of more losses below USD 7,800 and USD 7,700.

Similarly, most major altcoins are facing a lot of hurdles, including ethereum, XRP, litecoin, bitcoin cash, BNB, EOS, TRX, ADA, and XLM. ETH/USD is struggling to recover above the USD 205 and USD 208 resistance levels. Besides, XRP/USD failed to gain strength above USD 0.210 and it might resume its decline below USD 0.205.

https://cryptonews.com/news/bitcoin-and-altcoins-at-risk-of-more-losses-5987.htm

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Crypto Scams Are N America’s Second Riskiest

A trust-gauging non-profitable organization says it has found that cryptocurrency-related scams are the second riskiest type of fraud in North America – second only to employment-related stings.

Per a report from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), an organization that says it provides information to Americans and Canadians about the trustworthiness – or otherwise – of businesses and charities, successful crypto scams dupe victims out of an average of USD 3,000 in 2019.

https://cryptonews.com/news/crypto-scams-are-n-america-s-second-riskiest-report-5988.htm

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Competition Among Seized Bitcoin Auctions Might Get Tougher

Belarus could join the growing ranks of countries that allow government agencies and police forces to seize and auction cryptoassets, closing legal loopholes that currently bar the seizure of digital coins.

In an interview, Ivan Noskevich, the head of the Belarusian Investigative Committee, told state-run broadcaster Capital TV that his organization had requested that government draw up new criminal procedure legislation that will allow law enforcement agencies to confiscate crypto.

https://cryptonews.com/news/competition-among-seized-bitcoin-auctions-might-get-tougher-5995.htm

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Suspected Coincheck Hackers Arrested After Selling XEM for Bitcoin

Tokyo police say they have arrested two men over the hack of Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck. The platform was raided for some USD 400 million worth of NEM (XEM) tokens in January 2018, in what remains the world’s biggest-ever theft of cryptocurrency.

Police have been chasing the perpetrators ever since, but believe they have now made a breakthrough in the case. Per media outlet FNN, cyber investigators have focused on tracking down a sale allegedly made on the dark web whereby a large amount of XEM was traded at a 15% discount.

https://cryptonews.com/news/suspected-coincheck-hackers-arrested-after-selling-xem-for-b-5997.htm

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Crypto Startup CEO, Attendee of Ethereum Conferences Diagnosed With Coronavirus

Zhen Ju Yong (Zen), CEO and Co-Founder of Singapore-based distributed private key management solution, Torus Labs, said he has been diagnosed with Covid-19 virus and is currently staying at an isolated ward in a hospital.

"I fell ill yesterday and have just been diagnosed with" Covid-19, writes Zen today. He felt the symptoms commonly associated with this novel virus two nights ago, including fever, coughing, a runny nose, and shortness of breath. Zen said he is currently settled "quite nicely" in a hospital's isolated ward.

https://cryptonews.com/news/crypto-startup-ceo-attendee-of-ethereum-conferences-diagnose-5999.htm

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MIOTA Outperforms Many Top 30 Coins As IOTA Mainnet's Switched Back On

After a rough few weeks, IOTA's mainnet is live again, pumping life in MIOTA as well it seems, as the coin outperformed many of its peers in the top 30 category today.

After almost a full month of being down, following the recent attack, the IOTA mainnet is operating again, shows the IOTA Foundation status page. On March 10, the network Coordinator resumed operation.

https://cryptonews.com/news/miota-outperforms-many-top-30-coins-as-iota-mainnet-s-switch-6000.htm

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Bitcoin Options Volumes Surged During Recent Price Drop, Then Died Off

The nascent market for bitcoin options contracts saw surging trading volumes as the bitcoin (BTC) spot price dropped heavily last Sunday and Monday. Since then, however, interest has largely died off, with volumes now back to a normal range.

The total bitcoin options trading volume on Monday reached USD 198.7 million, the highest number ever recorded, according to data from crypto trading analytics provider Skew.

https://cryptonews.com/news/bitcoin-options-volumes-surged-during-recent-price-drop-then-6003.htm

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Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator to Accelerate These 17 Startups

The Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator, a joint venture by major organizations on the UC Berkeley campus, public research university in California, U.S., has selected its top projects for its third blockchain Xcelerator batch - the largest yet.

The Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator is a joint venture among the university's Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, Blockchain at Berkeley, and the Haas School of Business. UC Berkeley announced the launch of a blockchain-focused accelerator back in January 2019, with the goal to provide support for early-stage blockchain projects through necessary resources and connections with industry experts.

https://cryptonews.com/news/berkeley-blockchain-xcelerator-to-accelerate-these-17-startu-5992.htm

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No, CME Did Not Shut Down Bitcoin Derivatives Market

Following an announcement from CME Group yesterday, some might get confused that the major derivatives market would shut down trading in bitcoin (BTC) futures & options, along with trading in other assets. Fortunately, this is not the case.

What CME really said was that their “Chicago trading floor” would close for business as a precaution to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. However, it also added that “all products will continue to trade on CME Globex as they do today.”

https://cryptonews.com/news/no-cme-did-not-shut-down-bitcoin-derivatives-market-6009.htm